Announcement Regarding StarCityGames.com Organized Play

[zeagle]

UPDATE: I have been informed that it is more effective to email events@starcitygames.com instead.

Here is the announcement from Star City Games regarding organized play:

http://www.starcitygames.com/article/25452_StarCityGamescom-Organized-Play-Update.html

In summary:

Three Open weekends in 2013 will feature TWO Standard Opens. These Opens will be in Orlando, Dallas, and Salt Lake City. There will be no Legacy Open at these events.

There will be one weekend featuring a Standard Open and a Team Sealed Open. This will be the Open in Somerset, NJ. There will be no Legacy Open.

There will be one weekend featuring a Standard Open and a Sealed Open. This will be the Open in Charolette, NC. There will be no Legacy Open.



Personally, I think having a one format Open Weekend is bad idea. I don't see the appeal of having two Opens of the same format on the same weekend. I enjoy the opportunity to play in a variety of different formats at big tournaments like SCG Opens. Also, this sounds like bad news for the legacy format.

I drafted a letter that I will be sending to SCG (events@starcitygames.com). If you feel the same way I do about one format weekends please send an email to SCG.



Dear Star City Games

It has come to my attention that Star City Games is changing structure of the popular Open Series weekends. I think exploration of new tournament structures can be a good thing. For example, trying out new formats on the Open Series such as Sealed, and Team Sealed. However, I believe that having two Open Events of the same format on the same weekend, no matter the format, is a bad idea. Many players look forward to attending SCG events because they have the option and ability to play in two very different formats.

I hope that SCG will reconsider their decision to have one format Open Weekends for the 2013 season and beyond.

Sincerely,

[Megadeus]

I sent as well. I was a bit disappointed to see this change. Im just glad that the Atlanta SCG event did not get changed here.

[Julian23]

http://img2-3.timeinc.net/ew/i/2012/04/20/devils_advocate_500.jpg

Ok, so amidoinitrite? This is exactly what happened to the largest Legacy series in southern Germany, 4 months ago. It went from 4 Legacy Saturday/month to Modern and Legacy 2 each.

[nedleeds]

Why 2 standard? Standard is completely miserable and a fortune to keep up with. Why not at least make it standard / modern or standard / sealed or standard / ALICE block ... standard / EDH head up ... anything but fucking standardtusk.

[zeagle]

Why 2 standard? Standard is completely miserable and a fortune to keep up with. Why not at least make it standard / modern or standard / sealed or standard / ALICE block ... standard / EDH head up ... anything but fucking standardtusk.

Let SCG know how you feel. Email events@starcitygames.com.

[Freggle]

Try as I might Legacy is officially dead in Orlando now. I see no reason to go to Standard fest 2013. Whereas before I would make a standard deck just to play in both.

[Tormod]

I posted this on mtgs

Open location - attendance standard/legacy

Orlando FL 389/147 (2012) 318/146 (2011)
Sommerset NJ - no data
Dallas TX 528/174 (2012) 342/157 (2011) - noted there are 2 tx events in 2013, jan. std/leg & may std/std
Richmond VA 410/164 (2011)
Salt Lake, UT - no data

I pulled 5 random cities as the control for data analysis.

Las Vegas 439/222
Worchester 502/305
St. Louis 421/223
Kansas City 396/207
Nashville 419/212

From this data we can pull the following:

1) SCG did not pull any legacy events from markets where legacy attendance was above 200 attendees
2) SCG did not pull any legacy events from markets where legacy attendance was a minimum of 50% of standard attendance

It could be a simple attendance to prize support break even scenario.

[Tormod]

SCG hands out $20,000 in prizes in a weekend. $10,000 for standard and $10,000 for legacy.

$10,000 divided by $40 entrance fees = 250 attendees to break even.
This does not factor the costs of paying the staff and renting the location, which is likely offset by the cost of standard.

A minimum of 500 attendees are required across the whole weekend to cover prize support. I'm not sure how much it costs to rent a hall or a location to hold the event, but I imagine it must be costly.

From this exercise I learned that SCG does quite a bit to promote the game by running their open series and does to sometimes without a profit on the actual events themselves.

Thanks SCG for supporting magic and running events like the open series.

[Barook]

It could be a simple attendance to prize support break even scenario.
That's my thought as well. I kinda expected this. Modern instead of "double standards" would be more exciting.


Thanks SCG for supporting magic and running events like the open series.
Let's not forget it's massive advertising for them. Who right in their mind would buy at their prices otherwise? And they earn quite a bit with Legacy, too, so it's certainly in their interest to provide support to the format until a better cashcow comes along.

[Freggle]

Thanks SCG for supporting magic and running events like the open series.

I can attest that there is little to no Legacy scene in Orlando. In this past year I created a Facebook group so that store owners can find the community and vice versa one store owners jumped on the wagon and sponsored an event to have (4) people show including myself.

I was hoping to use this years Starcity to grow the group, and community. Now I think this is Orlando's nail in the coffin.

I agree with you Unsummon I think this is a business decision to remove it from their bill. I don't fault Starcity for doing so. I'll still spend many of my weekends downtime watching them on their site or Twitch.

I don't think I will personally be attending this years Orlando event because Standard to date hasn't interested me much, and Standard and Standard seems dreadful. If it were team sealed I'd likely go barring personal conflicts.


That's my thought as well. I kinda expected this. Modern instead of "double standards" would be more exciting.

I agree, but maybe the logic was eternal formats will not do well in these markets.

It will be interesting to see how standard / standard will play out in attendance.

[Lord Seth]

Double Standard seems pointless. I don't necessarily mind them doing something other than Legacy occasionally (I honestly like Sealed a lot), but double Standard is just so...redundant.

And it's not because I dislike Standard or anything, I actually enjoy the format a lot. I'd have the same problem if they decided to do double Legacy.

[xfxf]

Maybe they went with double Standard because they thought replacing Legacy with Modern could send out the wrong signal and freak people out?

[Mr.C]

Maybe they went with double Standard because they thought replacing Legacy with Modern could send out the wrong signal and freak people out?

That's what I would do.

Writing's on the wall, folks. Gonna be funny what's gonna happen to people hoarding duals.

[lordofthepit]

Maybe they went with double Standard because they thought replacing Legacy with Modern could send out the wrong signal and freak people out?

SCG wants to continue to hold Legacy Opens because promoting the format is good for business overall, but it's a loss leader for them since their prize support exceeds the entry fees received for most Legacy Opens. They probably calculated that they could still continue to reap the benefits of promoting the format while increasing revenue from entry fees by replacing a few Legacy Opens with Standard events in areas where the expected turnout is smaller.

Not sure where the Sealed events fit into those plans. Maybe having players open sealed product is helpful too, and it allows them to test on a small run.

They probably skipped Modern because in addition to possibly sending out the wrong signal that could collapse the secondary market for older cards, Modern Opens are even less likely to draw enough participants (for the foreseeable future) to break even with prize support offered.

[nedleeds]

Let SCG know how you feel. Email events@starcitygames.com.

I did ... I'm not too fired up about it since Atlanta has strong legacy support ... but I typically head up to their Charlotte event.

<snip>

As somebody who has frequented all your events within reasonable (~4 hours) driving distance of Atlanta I'm a little disappointed in the policy change regarding the Sunday format. I'm thankful Atlanta wasn't impacted but I noticed that the Charlotte open was. I understand dropping legacy from areas that haven't historically supported the format (it makes little sense to have a 1/2 full venue). Has any thought been giving to making those Sundays with the prize support split between a Modern and a Sealed Event? This would give players a couple of options and the respective attendance could help you gauge interest.

Anything other than double standard.

Regards,
nedleeds

[feline]

SCG hands out $20,000 in prizes in a weekend. $10,000 for standard and $10,000 for legacy.

$10,000 divided by $40 entrance fees = 250 attendees to break even.
This does not factor the costs of paying the staff and renting the location, which is likely offset by the cost of standard.

A minimum of 500 attendees are required across the whole weekend to cover prize support. I'm not sure how much it costs to rent a hall or a location to hold the event, but I imagine it must be costly.

From this exercise I learned that SCG does quite a bit to promote the game by running their open series and does to sometimes without a profit on the actual events themselves.

Thanks SCG for supporting magic and running events like the open series.

Thank you for pointing that out, the fact that they did this on a select few weekends, based on factors that likely included past results of lower legacy turnouts in which Ari Lax actually pointed out that same note during the Open on Sunday, it makes sense when you look at the big picture, after that it's just difficult on an individual level for players in those specific locations. Luckily for myself I am able to travel, though it's confined mostly to the west coast, and my local locations here in the northwest is still Legacy.

[Gammadoom]

In summary:

Three Open weekends in 2013 will feature TWO Standard Opens. These Opens will be in Orlando, Dallas, and Salt Lake City. There will be no Legacy Open at these events.

There will be one weekend featuring a Standard Open and a Team Sealed Open. This will be the Open in Somerset, NJ. There will be no Legacy Open.

There will be two weekends featuring a Standard Open and a Sealed Open. This will be the Open in Charolette, NC and Richmond, VA. There will be no Legacy Open.


Personally, I think having a one format Open Weekend is bad idea. I don't see the appeal of having two Opens of the same format on the same weekend. I enjoy the opportunity to play in a variety of different formats at big tournaments like SCG Opens. Also, this sounds like bad news for the legacy format.


Fixed that for you. As someone that's been driving people towards Legacy in the Richmond, VA area I cannot begin to describe how sucktastic it is that two of the four mid-east coast Legacy events got cancelled. "Hey guys, this format is awesome." turned into "hey guys, good luck playing with all of the cards you just bought" real quick.

[Tammit67]

If they are continuing legacy where they get enough players, then I am glad that I live in the NE USA. The areas between Boston and Washington DC are LOADED with stores that regularly draw crowds for eternal events. The only downside is having to battle Dan Signorini and or the Hatfields at pretty much every big event.

Did I say downside? :laugh:

I cannot fathom why there wouldn't be enough people to want to head down to a Virginia event for legacy, but perhaps it is too far for the swath of Rochester, NY contingent and other Jupiter Games player bases